A new floor for Roller Garden

On May 5, 2013, the Roller Garden rink began a major transformation: the removal of the composite grey floor and installation of a solid maple hardwood floor. For serious skaters, a maple floor is the "gold standard" of skating surfaces, and RGASC was overjoyed to learn we would have the privilege of skating on such a floor at our own rink. Below is a photo journal of the week-and-a-half-long process. You can click on many of the photos below for enlarged views.

(Above) Some of the old asphalt with the green coating from the rink's tennis court days. The installers scraped off the coating, but the asphalt and concrete beneath it stayed as a base for the new floor.

May 5, 2013 - Demolition Day

Demolition started at 7 a.m. to remove the old floor, and was slated to be completed in one day. You don't often see a Bobcat sitting in the middle of a skating floor!

May 7 - The first maple boards!

The first maple boards are put in place in the center of the rink.Most of the subfloor is in place.Roofing felt goes between the subfloor and the maple.

Pallets of maple wait for installation. On this side of the floor, the subfloor was complete. There were more pallets on the other side.

(Above) Still a lot more floor to cover!

(Center) The layers of the floor - maple, roofing felt, OSB subfloor placed at an angle, a second OSB subfloor placed parallel to the sides, moisture barrier, closed cell foam, and another moisture barrier. Asphalt and concrete below that.

Sanding equipment at the ready.

May 8 - the corner "fan" begins

The main center section complete, the end boards were trimmed at an angle at the corners to allow a "fan" pattern. This way skaters will mostly skate with the grain of the wood.

Center section is done! It's starting to look like a real floor!(Upper right) One section of the fan is done at the snack bar end - trimming is started to make a straight line for the next section.

(Lower right) the rest of the sub floor is in place, ready for the rest of the maple.

May 9 - one fan almost done

The snack bar end of the floor nears completion. The "fan" portion on this end is nearly done, leaving the opposite ends and sides left to do.

May 10 - installing the first straightaway

With the fan on the snack bar end of the floor completed, installation progressed to laying the boards on the first straightaway.Sanding continues on the completed portion of the floor.

The center section boards are trimmed and ready for that end's fan.

Click on the arrow above for a short video pan of the rink and some of the installation.

Trimmed for the side aisle carpeting.

A worker carries out bags of sanding dust to empty.

Buckets of floor coating, ready for the final phase.

May 13 - the last boards are installed and sealing begins

Much was accomplished over the weekend. The far end fan and straightaway were installed, with the last of the maple boards being put in place late Monday afternoon. On Monday morning, about two thirds of the floor had sealer applied. A second coat was applied to the same area early Monday evening, and the first coat applied to the balance. A late night final coat was applied in preparation for the next day's projects: inking the figure and loop circles as well as a traffic circle, and the first coat of finish. Also done over the weekend: another layer of oriented strand board on the side aisle to bring the soon-to-be-installed carpet up to floor level.

On Monday, Roller Garden staff were busy cleaning every surface possible to remove the fine layer of sawdust that had settled everywhere - even with the precautionary plastic in place.

The last maple boards are put in place - a major milestone in the process.

The side aisle gets a layer of OSB. In the rink's early days, the skating floor extended all the way to the concrete step. There were no birthday party or practice corners, so the floor was a huge rectangle.

A gap is left between the maple boards and the wall to allow the floor to expand and contract with humidity changes.

The gap will be covered with a kick board made out of PVC decking material, above.

A second coat of sealer is applied, giving a preview of what the floor will look like with the final finish. One worker pours, two spread it in the direction of the wood grain.

The first three states of the floor before the finish coats are applied. Bottom right corner: raw, sanded wood. Center to top of photo: floor with one dried coat of sealer. Left: second coat of sealer being applied.

May 14 - sanding the seal coat, drawing circles, and first top coat

With the second seal coat dry around noon, a final light sanding began in preparation for drawing the figure circles and applying the first of two top coats. After sanding, the floor was wiped down to remove all the dust. Then the drawing began! The installers drew the long figure circles, then RGASC's own Matthew Chapman and Suzi and Bryan Swanson drew the loop circles, supervised by Diane Brown. As soon as the first set of long circles were drawn, Matthew and Diane got busy drawing the loops - and soon had the flooring crew around them watching their technique! By 8 p.m. that night the circles and the red traffic circle (a new feature for Roller Garden's floor) were drawn and the first layer of top coat was applied.

The plan for the figure circle layout.

Two rows of tape define where the red traffic circle will be.

Matthew soon finds his technique being watched by the floor installers.

The first circle gets started.

Matthew starts drawing the first set of loops while the crew continues drawing long circles.

Painters tape ensures all the circles line up properly. A board was screwed into the floor to create a pivot point; a black marker went through a hole at the other end. Instant giant compass!

Diane supervises and keeps a wet paper towel at the ready to clean off any dust that's clogging the pen.

Figure and loop circles complete!

May 15 - It's done! Final coating and prepping the rink for re-opening

The final top coat went on the floor this morning, and the crew packed up and headed back to Tennessee. The floor spends the day drying, but the work is far from done for the Roller Garden staff. There's plastic to take down, dust to clean off everything, side aisle carpet to install, kick boards to install, and carpeting to clean. A lot of equipment and fixtures in the rink have been moved around to make room for the floor installation; it has to be moved back. It will be a busy couple of days, but it will all be worth it when a grateful skating public come in on Thursday night to enjoy this beautiful floor.